Embellishing Tones

Introduction: The Connective Tissue

By the end of Volume I you were harmonizing melodies with block chords: every time the soprano moved, all four voices moved together. Structurally sound, but stiff and hymn-like.

To create flowing, independent lines, we add embellishing tones (also called non-chord tones): notes that don't belong to the harmony underneath them. If chords are the bricks, embellishing tones are the mortar. Because they clash with the chord, they create momentary dissonance, and that dissonance has to be handled carefully. We name each type by how it's approached and how it's left.

Click any example to hear it. Embellishing tones are shown in red.

Passing and Neighbor Tones

A passing tone (PT) fills in the gap between two chord tones a third apart: approached by step and left by step in the same direction. A neighbor tone (NT) decorates a single repeated note: step away, then step back. Both usually fall on weak beats or weak parts of beats, so they're unaccented.

Accented passing and neighbor tones also exist: they fall on the beat, displacing the chord tone and creating a sharper dissonance.

Suspensions

A suspension (SUS) is the most expressive embellishment. A note is held over from one chord while the harmony changes underneath it, creating a dissonance that then resolves down by step. It has three parts:

1. Preparation: the note is a consonant chord tone in the first chord.
2. Suspension: the same note is held (or tied) as the next chord arrives, on a strong beat. Now it's dissonant.
3. Resolution: the note falls by step to a chord tone, on a weaker beat.

Suspensions are named by the intervals above the bass at the moment of dissonance and resolution:

In these examples the suspended note is re-struck so you can see it; in real music it is very often tied over the bar line or beat. Either way, the suspension must be prepared by the same note and must resolve down by step. A suspension that resolves up by step is called a retardation (most often 7–8, the leading tone held into the tonic chord).

Appoggiaturas, Escape Tones, and Anticipations

• Appoggiatura (APP): approached by leap, resolved by step, usually in the opposite direction and usually accented. It's a sigh: a sudden dissonance that melts into a chord tone.
• Escape tone (ET): the reverse: approached by step, left by leap in the opposite direction, unaccented. Common in Classical-era cadences.
• Anticipation (ANT): a note of the next chord arrives early, then is repeated (or held) when that chord comes. Very common in the soprano at cadences (1̂ arriving just before I).
• Incomplete neighbor (IN): the umbrella term for one-sided neighbors such as the appoggiatura and escape tone.

Pedal Point

A pedal point (or pedal tone) is a note sustained, usually in the bass, while the harmony above it changes, sometimes clashing and then agreeing again. A tonic pedal at the end of a piece, or a dominant pedal before the return of the tonic, creates powerful stability or suspense. Organists and film composers love them.

Summary

Animating the Inner Voices

Embellishing tones are your best tool for fixing dull alto and tenor lines. If the alto sits on C for three chords, give it a lower neighbor (C–B–C). If a voice leaps a third, fill it in with a passing tone. Add them where they make a line more singable, not everywhere: a few well-placed embellishments sound musical; too many sound busy.

One caution: embellishing tones can create parallel fifths and octaves that weren't there before, and they can't fix ones that were. Check them like any other notes.

Try It: Name the Embellishments

Check Your Understanding